We’ve more ambulances on the way – Hawa Koomson

Special Development Initiatives Minister, Mavis Hawa Koomson has said the government is working to procure 275 ambulances for all constituencies in the country.

This forms part of projects under the one-million-dollar-per-constituency policy.

According to the minister, her office is working with the Health Ministry and the Public Procurement Authority to develop specifications and other procurement details for the ambulances. The issue of emergency response has become a critical matter in the country heightened by the recent no bed syndrome.

Speaking to Citi News Hawa Koomson stated that the only thing her outfit is waiting for the specification for the ambulance.

“You the issue of procurement, we are now trying to get the specification, as I mentioned earlier, so when the specification is given then we will go ahead with the procurement process, we have to decide whether we are going for open tender or whatever we want to do,” she said.

In a country, of 29 million people there are only 55 functioning ambulances serving all ten regions.

While the situation is not new, it has reached a level that requires urgent action, and not just the attention of health authorities.

Ghana currently has 155 ambulances, 100 of which have broken down due to various faults, many of them engine-related.

The remaining 55, are stationed in various parts of the country to offer emergency health responses and basic life support.

Ghana’s Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, also announced that the government had initiated processes to provide 275 ambulances to boost the operations of the National Ambulance Service.

According to him, each constituency will be given one of the ambulances.

Speaking at the opening of the 2018 Annual Health Summit organized by the Ghana Health Service in Accra, Dr Bawumia suggested that the effective operation of the Ghana Ambulance Service would contribute to the general improvement of health delivery in the country.

“You cannot have a National Ambulance Service without ambulances; it becomes a problem. So the government has through the Ministry of Special development Initiative, which works with the development authorities, begun the processes of procuring ambulances for every constituency in this country, and we have 275 constituencies, so we will procure 275 ambulances, all of which will become a part of the national ambulances system to help in the development of health services,” he said.